Handheld devices are commonly used for communications. For example, devices such as the Blackberry are used to provide wireless email communication. Because these devices are small, the amount of resources available to the device may be limited. For example, a user may not be able to record and/or attach an audio file to emails sent from a conventional device. Recording and attaching an audio file may enable a user to, for example, compose a new email that included primarily audio content, may enable a reply to a received email in instances when the user is not able, or does not wish to, type out a response, may enable dictation of a letter to be transmitted from a handheld device, or may provide other functionalities.
Conventional handheld devices may not be suitable for recording, storing, and/or attaching audio files for a variety of reasons. For example, a device in many cases does not have a sound recorder, or a capability of storing a file that is the size of a typical audio file. Efforts to compress audio files may be frustrated by the number of CPU cycles required for compression, which may monopolize a processor associated with the device and may drain the device's local power source (e.g., battery). Even if an audio file were recorded and stored a conventional device, the limitation of known wireless connections typically implemented in handheld data communications, such as General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), may make transmitting files the size of typical audio files slow and expensive.                Other drawbacks also exist.        